What is the religiously obligatory limit for the beard, and is letting it grow beyond a hand’s span an innovation?

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good. Question: A brother was asked about the permissibility of trimming the beard? And is keeping a beard that exceeds a hand’s span an innovation?

The Shaykh : Yes, we always and forever state that not trimming the beard at all is an exaggeration in religion, it is an exaggeration in religion, and a misapplication of the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): . Understanding this issue relates to our Salafi methodology. We do not always and forever repeat in all our gatherings and lectures that we must understand the Book and the Sunnah as the righteous Salaf did. We do not repeat this condition regarding the methodology of the righteous Salaf in vain. Rather, I believe that any Muslim, no matter how knowledgeable he is of the Book and the Sunnah, if he does not acknowledge the necessity of understanding these two noble sources according to the methodology of the righteous Salaf, he will not be correct in his knowledge and jurisprudence. This is because there are matters that admit of many directions and meanings, and sometimes they do not become clear except through practical application. Also, the Sunnah related to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is divided into three categories: speech, action, and approval. We, who follow the necessary path of receiving the understanding of the Book and the Sunnah from the righteous Salaf, this reception from them also fits that threefold division. That is, it is either their speech, or their action, or their approval. First, we find many texts from some of the early Salaf, let alone those who followed them, that they used to trim their beards. This is first, absolutely. And more importantly, they used to trim what exceeded a hand’s span. This means that we should take one of two positions regarding them, and there is no third: either we say they misunderstood the hadith and its application, or we say they got it right. My belief is that if it were just one person, it might be possible to say that he made a mistake. But since that is not the case, we must say the second possibility is the truth, which is that they got it right. Among the famous texts known to scholars, and even students of knowledge, is that of Abdullah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with them both): "He used to trim from his beard what exceeded a hand’s span." But some of these students stopped at a text that explicitly states he did this during Hajj or Umrah, so they restricted this action to Hajj or Umrah. This benefits us, but I want to mention that there are other narrations that state the trimming without restriction. This unrestricted statement includes what came in the narration restricted to Hajj or restricted to Hajj and Umrah. In that case, I say that even the other restricted narration benefits us. This is because some scholars, especially in the present age, who insist on taking the hadith in its unrestricted sense: , they do not follow Ibn Umar, neither in Hajj nor in Umrah. Here, one of us must also take a position regarding them: either we say Ibn Umar made a mistake in trimming his beard in his Hajj or Umrah and these later people got it right, or we say the opposite. The opposite is undoubtedly the truth, for two reasons. The first reason is that Abdullah ibn Umar was a noble Companion, and this needs clarification. The second reason is that he was a witness. As was said earlier: "The witness sees what the absent one does not see." He was a witness to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and a witness to his noble beard. So I imagine it is impossible for Ibn Umar, who was known for his extreme exaggeration in following his Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), even in the Sunnahs that some scholars call, and we follow them in this naming, customary Sunnahs, not Sunnahs of worship. He used to follow him (peace be upon him) even in the Sunnahs of custom, which are not from the Sunnahs of worship. A man like Ibn Umar reached such an extreme in following our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in such matters. Indeed, in what is even more amazing, which cannot be classified as customary matters but rather as incidental matters, such as: "For example, he would go around in a circle and relieve himself in a place." Why? "I saw the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) do that." We do not know what the circumstances of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) were until he went around that circle and reached a place. It may be that this place, as in some narrations, was a tree, and he relieved himself under it. This is not one of the customary matters; this is an incidental matter and during travel. On the contrary, it is established from his father, Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him): "When he performed Hajj during his caliphate and descended at one of the known stations on the traveler’s path from Madinah to Makkah, he saw people taking a side path off the main road. So he asked, 'Where are these people going?' It was said to him, 'These people intend to pray at a station where the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) had stayed.' So he addressed the people and said: 'O people, whoever catches the prayer at one of these stations, let him pray. And whoever does not, do not follow the stations. For what destroyed those before you was their following the traces of their prophets.'" This is the jurisprudence of Umar, not the jurisprudence of Ibn Umar. But my point here is: Ibn Umar, who exaggerated this much in following while seeing the Prophet (peace be upon him), does not trim a single stray hair like this, for example, and then he trims what is long of the beard. This is almost impossible for this man. Nevertheless, the possibility that he made a mistake is present, because he is a human being and not infallible. But we find another companion who did his action and trimmed his beard with a sound chain. This is from the reports unknown to most scholars, unfortunately, let alone students of knowledge, because no one has seen it in print yet. It is only in a manuscript that I have not seen, and I have reached old age as you see. I have reached old age. I did not see it except a few years ago in a photocopy of a manuscript. I did not see this manuscript with my own eyes, but I saw its image. It is the book *al-Tarjal* by Abu Bakr al-Khallal, who had a special concern for tracking the statements of the Imam of the Sunnah, Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah have mercy on him). He narrated there the report of Ibn Umar, adding to it the report of Abu Hurayrah with a sound chain. Then I previously saw it in a photocopy that is still with me. Then this photocopy, praise be to Allah, was printed, so the book became available to students of knowledge. They may have reached this place and stopped at it, or not. The important thing is that this manuscript, which returned and became printed, is *Shu'ab al-Iman* by Abu Bakr al-Bayhaqi, where he also narrated with a sound chain from Ibrahim ibn Yazid al-Nakha'i: "They used to trim from their beards." He says like this: "They used to trim from their beards." There is no doubt he means the Companions or the senior Tabi'un. So these are our Salaf. Also, Ibn Jarir al-Tabari mentioned in his great and massive tafsir some reports from Abu Hurayrah and from Mujahid in the interpretation of His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He): What is the verse?
The student : .

The Shaykh : In the interpretation of the word *tafth* (dishevelment), it was mentioned that the Salaf, among them Abu Hurayrah and Mujahid, used to say: "That he should trim from his hair and his beard." So when these Salafi reports were available to me, I became certain that the generality of the hadith mentioned at the beginning of this speech is one of the generalities that should not be taken in this specific detail regarding absolute leaving of the beard. I have a long discussion on this, and I do not want to lengthen it more than I have already.